Yes, Civic is a great car. Rather than get a 2012 base model, find a good used sport model...the Si. You get 200hp and 6 speed manual, sport suspension and rims, special seats, sunroof and front/real spoilers. If you can't drive a stick, learning is very easy.

You can find a good used Si 2006-11 priced in the teens. Reliable, blast to drive, and great resale value. Its on everybody's best car list.

Since you live in Boston, Herb Chambers is an excellent place to buy a car. Herb host a "cars and coffee" car show monthly at one of his dealers on a Saturday AM. Herb Chambers owns four Honda dealers....and its the kind of place where the salesman will teach you how to drive a manual.

If you are planning on getting a manual shifter, then the Civic is the way to go. I don't think anyone builds a better stick shift/clutch combo than Honda, especially in the price range you are looking at. And the Civic Si is fun to drive, but like Dallasfan said, they are refreshing it this year, so you may want to hold off. Probably the main refresh will be with that awful interior.

In this price range, there are a few really good cars, namely the Mazda3 and the Ford Focus, and maybe the Hyundai Elantra (who just introduced their Elantra Coupe, which is better looking than the Civic, IMO).

Dallasfan824 saidThey are dead reliable. However hold off. The 2012 refresh was panned by everyone and they are going back to the drawing board.

Yeah. I'm not sure what's going on with Honda lately, they're sort of losing focus. Have you seen the new concept Acura RL? Blah. The NSX though, looks promising.

Everything ebbs and flows, and I guess it’s time for the Japanese to ebb and the Americans and Koreans to gain 'speed' . True, the new NSX is very nice, but the mainstream cars and CUVs such as the Crosswhore. Good God is that thing awful to look at IMO.

Dallasfan824 saidThey are dead reliable. However hold off. The 2012 refresh was panned by everyone and they are going back to the drawing board.

Yeah. I'm not sure what's going on with Honda lately, they're sort of losing focus. Have you seen the new concept Acura RL? Blah. The NSX though, looks promising.

Everything ebbs and flows, and I guess it’s time for the Japanese to ebb and the Americans and Koreans to gain 'speed' . True, the new NSX is very nice, but the mainstream cars and CUVs such as the Crosswhore. Good God is that thing awful to look at IMO.

Agreed, every new Honda I see I wonder what the hell happened. The design, the cheap interiors in some vehicles, the lack of truly new technology lately, etc. It seems like Toyota is getting it, but Honda isn't.

Dallasfan824 saidThey are dead reliable. However hold off. The 2012 refresh was panned by everyone and they are going back to the drawing board.

Yeah. I'm not sure what's going on with Honda lately, they're sort of losing focus. Have you seen the new concept Acura RL? Blah. The NSX though, looks promising.

The new RLX concept is hitting the market exactly where it needs to hit. Interior size matches 7-Series, driving experience is supposed to match a 5-Series. The styling, albeit conservative, is consistent with the class. Lexus has mastered this marketing/product strategy for the last 10+ years: conservative styling that mimicks the successful Germans (The RLX is clearly an homage to the 7Series) while offering Japanese reliability. Acura is taking that a step further by offering what promises to be a better driving experience than Lexus in an LS-sized package. Lexus' new GS promises a better driving experience, but in a 5-Series sized package. Acura has never offered dynamic styling, and when it has tried, it's been criticized, case in point being the current generation TL when first introduced. Look at Infiniti. They offer products that are perceived to be more daring in styling and driving experience, yet their sales are lower than Acura. And they don't offer a vehicle with the promised interior size of the RLX. (or gas mileage).

As far as recent Honda products, yes, I would agree that Honda has taken a somewhat conservative approach to updating/replacing. But why mess with a good thing. Honda's sales continue to be strong, however, they still are affected by parts inventory because of the earthquake. Only recently have they begun to get full parts supply. Though the Civic appears to have disappointed in the press, it is still outselling all small cars except the Corolla. Same with the Accord. I believe it was still the 2nd-highest-selling car last year, to the Camry.

FYI: One thing to be aware of is when you buy a car that a lot of young people buy, your insurance rates can be much higher. There is a web site that compares different cars and I was surprised what a difference it makes. I don't want to see people move to bigger cars (especially with peak oil hitting between now and 2030), but they can be much cheaper on the insurance. I have had several Civic's in the past and always liked them. Being that I live alone, reliability is more important to me than anything else. So I generally stick with Honda and Toyota's for that reason.

OP:Like most people are saying. You can't really go wrong with civics. They are pretty reliable, which is really important if you don't want to pay an arm and a leg for repairs. The older models are preferred, but you should still enjoy the 2012 if you choose to get it.

Bleh, the new NSX looks horrible. The old ones were so unique and really set itself apart from other cars. This one just seems so...generic? Looks too much like an Audi R8.

Dallasfan824 saidThey are dead reliable. However hold off. The 2012 refresh was panned by everyone and they are going back to the drawing board.

Yeah. I'm not sure what's going on with Honda lately, they're sort of losing focus. Have you seen the new concept Acura RL? Blah. The NSX though, looks promising.

The new RLX concept is hitting the market exactly where it needs to hit. Interior size matches 7-Series, driving experience is supposed to match a 5-Series. The styling, albeit conservative, is consistent with the class. Lexus has mastered this marketing/product strategy for the last 10+ years: conservative styling that mimicks the successful Germans (The RLX is clearly an homage to the 7Series) while offering Japanese reliability. Acura is taking that a step further by offering what promises to be a better driving experience than Lexus in an LS-sized package. Lexus' new GS promises a better driving experience, but in a 5-Series sized package. Acura has never offered dynamic styling, and when it has tried, it's been criticized, case in point being the current generation TL when first introduced. Look at Infiniti. They offer products that are perceived to be more daring in styling and driving experience, yet their sales are lower than Acura. And they don't offer a vehicle with the promised interior size of the RLX. (or gas mileage).

As far as recent Honda products, yes, I would agree that Honda has taken a somewhat conservative approach to updating/replacing. But why mess with a good thing. Honda's sales continue to be strong, however, they still are affected by parts inventory because of the earthquake. Only recently have they begun to get full parts supply. Though the Civic appears to have disappointed in the press, it is still outselling all small cars except the Corolla. Same with the Accord. I believe it was still the 2nd-highest-selling car last year, to the Camry.

I just bought my seventh Honda...a used 2005 S2000 to go along with my 2009 Element.

I'm not brand loyal to anybody. I shop the competition every time. What it boils down to is driving position. I get in the Honda, and its obvious they spent the most time figuring out how the car physically interacts with the driver. Mirrors, windows, seats, console, wheel, shifter, brakes. engine throttle response...it all fits like a glove. The seats in my Element are manual, no lumbar settings, no leather...but the whole driving position thing is so perfect, that I don't care.

Dallasfan824 saidThey are dead reliable. However hold off. The 2012 refresh was panned by everyone and they are going back to the drawing board.

Yeah. I'm not sure what's going on with Honda lately, they're sort of losing focus. Have you seen the new concept Acura RL? Blah. The NSX though, looks promising.

The new RLX concept is hitting the market exactly where it needs to hit. Interior size matches 7-Series, driving experience is supposed to match a 5-Series. The styling, albeit conservative, is consistent with the class. Lexus has mastered this marketing/product strategy for the last 10+ years: conservative styling that mimicks the successful Germans (The RLX is clearly an homage to the 7Series) while offering Japanese reliability. Acura is taking that a step further by offering what promises to be a better driving experience than Lexus in an LS-sized package. Lexus' new GS promises a better driving experience, but in a 5-Series sized package. Acura has never offered dynamic styling, and when it has tried, it's been criticized, case in point being the current generation TL when first introduced. Look at Infiniti. They offer products that are perceived to be more daring in styling and driving experience, yet their sales are lower than Acura. And they don't offer a vehicle with the promised interior size of the RLX. (or gas mileage).

As far as recent Honda products, yes, I would agree that Honda has taken a somewhat conservative approach to updating/replacing. But why mess with a good thing. Honda's sales continue to be strong, however, they still are affected by parts inventory because of the earthquake. Only recently have they begun to get full parts supply. Though the Civic appears to have disappointed in the press, it is still outselling all small cars except the Corolla. Same with the Accord. I believe it was still the 2nd-highest-selling car last year, to the Camry.

As I said earlier, drive a 2012 Civic and then a Focus and Cruze back to back and see how much the world has changed.

The Chevy is nice too...but the Focus is uggo.

forget looks for a minute ... drive them.

I'm not saying it doesn't drive well...but I HAVE driven the Civic and I like the ride and think it doesn't look like ass (and I, personally, do think that it's nice to drive a car that looks not ugly)

As I said earlier, drive a 2012 Civic and then a Focus and Cruze back to back and see how much the world has changed.

The Chevy is nice too...but the Focus is uggo.

forget looks for a minute ... drive them.

I'm not saying it doesn't drive well...but I HAVE driven the Civic and I like the ride and think it doesn't look like ass (and I, personally, do think that it's nice to drive a car that looks not ugly)

I'm saying that the new one is unrefined and crude as compared to the Cruze and Focus. It was a step back instead of a step forward. Don't even get me started on the interior.